After participants were discharged following surgery for hip fracture, a research physiotherapist performed home visits every 2 weeks for 6 months to monitor walking aid use. Walking aid prescription and review was not part of the intervention provided in the INTERACTIVE trial. Patients were included if they were admitted with a diagnosis of hip fracture confirmed by radiology report, aged 70 years and over, and community-dwelling within existing local service

boundaries, with a Mini Mental Score (Folstein et al 1975) of at least 18 out of 30 and a body mass index between 18.5 and 35. Exclusion criteria were a pathological fracture or malignancy, non-English speaking, limited to stand transfers only post surgery or non-ambulatory before the fracture, unable to give informed Compound C supplier consent, or medically unstable 14 days after surgery. All those individuals who met the study criteria were invited to participate. Data about walking aid prescription were collected by questionnaire. These data included the type of aid, who had prescribed it, and whether goals and a review date had been set

at the time of prescription. The questionnaire was developed after a review of the literature, review of questions used in previous surveys, and in consultation with researchers in the field. The aim was to capture information on the type of walking Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor Library aid prescribed, who had prescribed the

aid and why, participant recall of education on safe and appropriate use and any goals established, and whether a time to review the aid had been set (see Appendix 1 on the eAddenda for the questionnaire). The appropriateness most of the aid was determined through observation of walking aid use and inspection of walking aids. The first assessment took place when participants had been discharged from their final inpatient setting, ie, to the location where they would be permanently residing after their hip fracture. The research physiotherapist attended fortnightly to assess walking aid suitability (height, defects, technique, and gait pattern) based on clinical judgement and recommended practice: ‘a suitable walking aid must be appropriate to the patient’s abilities, correctly sized and free of defects. An aid failing to meet any of these criteria is unsuitable.’ (Simpson and Pirrie 1991, p231). Observation of walking aid use occurred at all visits and the questionnaire was completed on the first visit and every time a participant changed their walking aid or their use of the walking aid between visits. Data were summarised and presented as a percentage of the whole cohort or with other descriptive statistics. Cross-tabulation with chi-squared analysis was used to assess the relationships between variables. The alpha probability level was set at p < 0.05.